This could go two ways, indeed it will.
I am sitting around obsessing about colour, as I am basically painting all day and have about a million ideas buzzing around in my head....I want to paint a quote from a Haruki Muakami book that I love, that produced a marvelous image in my mind, I have a portrait I am working on....and I am thinking of Matisse and Miro....
Simultaneously, I am trying not to think at all about what is going on over-head. Last night our new neighbour went up to the terrace and put up a tv antenna, right at eye-level, right in the middle of the view of the sea/church/mountains. I was not impressed and, in his household, am undoubtedly known as the b*tch who lives up there. Ho hum. I was *nice* I am starting to hate being nice when others aren't. My grandmother gave up on that; maybe she had a point.
So...I have been working on a whole bunch of projects, between walking the dog and hanging out with the man....I have been working on a series of postcards, kind of a painter's version of Carla's selvedge projects, I am taking paintings that didn't work, cutting them up, painting over them so they make sense in the size they are, and using them as postcards.
So, after speaking to the guy last night, we went to our long suffering and delightful property manager, mentioned our concerns and asked about the legalities. Seems there is only supposed to be one antenna on each building. We now have three. We asked him to not do anything as the guy assured us he would change things around.
I have also been working on a larger abstract, which is completed that was inspired by the flight home, there is another from the flight that I have started, the underpainting is on, and I am waiting around for it to dry....
During lunch today, amidst Chuck's barking, we could tell that someone was upstairs, sawing screwing things, unscrewing things....I know not what.......We didn't go up. Did you know that the Catalan word for anger is "rabia" and in fact you use the verb 'to have' to make it work in a sentence...as in 'tinc rabia' = I am very angry. The direct translation of course would be that I have rabies. Not far off.
I have been looking at the work of Matisse and Miró and Rothko....the two M's are my favourite painters in the world I think. I love the colour and the flattened simplified planes, though some of Matisse's work is busy busy busy, he keeps the planes, well, plain. I adore it. Mmmmmmm
The man phoned me after he left for work to tell me that the neighbour was taking down one of the larger antennas. I still daren't look. Hope we still have a clothes line as it was tied off to that...no biggie there, I never liked where it was placed anyway...the definition of ugly!
I am working away, thinking of colours and ideas and and and....one of the things that I don't adore in the work of Matisse and Miró is the flatness of the painting. I love paint and sculpting it on...there is a frank sensuality to the paint and to working with it that the flat contained styles subsume, a Victorian hyper-control that I don't like. This may also be why I love Van Gogh, he has both vibrant singing colour and in-your-face paintwork. Rembrandt could do some kick-*ss paintwork too...
ohhhhhh, he just went downstairs, I am honestly afraid to go up and look. I will wait a while longer and make sure he is actually done.
Photos to follow
No wait!!!! He's upstairs again.....aaauuuuuugggggghhhhhh....
I think I just have to go and paint now.
'Scuse me for a bit, m'kay? Gotta do something so my head doesn't explode.
OMG....he fixed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gonna have to go buy the man a bottle of cava. Sometimes maybe it is worth it to be nice even when you want to pitch the guy off the terrace.
Restored my faith in humanity. or in the power of complaint...whatever.
Stupidly wore my painting clothes out to walk the dog and now they are all wet. Looking at the work and I don't quite know what to do.
7 comments:
So, you complained – nicely – and met with success! Hope you used that Catalan gesture to congratulate yourself…
I enjoyed the two-fer aspect of your post – my mind frequently works like that. ;)
Brian also has a thing about Matisse and Rothko, though in his case the inspiration will become music. There are twin Matisse works Dancers and (Ithink) singers which he has ideas about writing about. And he has been sketching out ideas about Rothko as well, however he has been distracted by John Clare again. We went to the Rothko exhibition at the Tate with your parents, and also saw the Dancers in the Royal Academy - both of which were fantastic.
Glad the aerial has gone.
two amazing things -
1 - the way you wrote your post - stream of consicousness / self-actualizing to the max interspersed!
2 - that our favorite painters are almost the same (and almost for the same reasons weirdly) and... we are so different and lead such different lives!
love ya - and glad you are getting so deep into what you love.
Grandma - watch out!
J-VLF
Your head sure was busy today! Part of getting old(er) is not giving a hoot what other people think about what you say, although you do have to watch that and not get too carried away, at least until people can label you at best eccentric and at worst senile. But you'll never get what you want unless you speak up, huh?
I can't believe how creative you are right now!! I'm really jealous! I have a huge blank canvas in my studio and am frightened to death to begin.... arggg!
Yay! Obviously this turned out with a happy ending and you neighbors don't have to avoid each other next time you meet. Congrats!
Beth, mostly...on the big ticket items, yes, all is well.
Helen, I'd love to hear what he wrote!
J-VLF, greatness is greatness....the woman could paint too.
Bodhi, I was thinking about that today when I realised that I was out and about in a pair of camo pants with bright blue socks, and a stripe of blue paint on my cheek. I may be a little young for such eccentricities, especially in a small town, where for sure someone saw me, and commented on it to someone else.
Traveler One, start slinging the paint around and you'll get going. You can always paint over it if it sucks, and in the end, it's just a painting, not a child. That's what I figure anyway, and it does limber things up.
JG, I don't have to avoid him, though I don't tend to do that, I am thinking rather less of him as time passes.
Ho hum.
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